Last week, we were paralyzed by the shocking news that eternal man-band SMAP might be about to break up. Could it be? How would we get through those mundane Mondays without SMAP? How would we get by without the saccharine-sweet, badly auto-tuned pop gems that the nation’s favorite idols have been churning out over the past few centuries?
No matter. For disaster has been averted, and Japan’s oldest boy-band has survived its biggest shake to date.
This article speculates on what the band will say in the their live broadcast later today.
From YouTube:
Edit: Predictions were right…the band survived. Here’s their apology.
From Yahoo! Japan:
SMASMA Broadcast Live In Part Today, Band Will Apologize And Explains How They Avoided Breakup
It was revealed that on January 18, part of Fuji TV’s SMAP x SMAP (Mondays 10pm), the regular programme in which members of SMAP appear, would be broadcast live. The band has been embroiled in breakup rumors.
The band’s five members will appear live and apologize for the recent furor, and will be seen explaining what happened. By all five members appearing in the report, it seems that just as was reported in a previous article by Sponichi, the band had avoided breakup, and it seems there was an explanation for that.
The furor was revealed in the tabloid Sponichi newspaper on January 13. The band’s female manager (58), who we might say brought the band up as a parent, had formed a rift with the management agency, and formed a plan for SMAP to go independent. Four members of the band, Nakai Masahiro (43), Inagaki Goro (42), Kusanagi Tsuyoshi (41), and Katori Shingo (38), were in agreement with her. It was only Kimura Takuya (43) who had decided to stay behind.
However, the move to go independent failed. The four members who had agreed with the female manager were left with nowhere to go. Following this, a deadlock ensued, until Kimura, who had stayed behind, called Johnny’s Jimusho CEO Johnny Kitagawa (94) and vice president Mary Kitagawa (89), and appealed to them, saying “I want to go on being in SMAP with the other guys” and moved to continue the group. After Kimura’s call, the situation was turned around.
Any bad blood between the members, who were 4 against 1 in the split, was actually resolved over the New Year, on January 6, a week before the furor was exposed by Sponichi. Nakai and Kimura met in the SMAP x SMAP green room and settled on the fact that they were going to carry on together. Following that, the other members and the band’s female manager also exchanged words, and although they had differences over whether the band would go independent, any mutual distrust was dissolved.
The uproar over the band has drawn in the whole of Japan. We’ll all be focusing on the words of those five members.
Comments from Yahoo! Japan:
✿❀✿❀✿:
That’s gonna get the viewing figures!
kmo*****:
If they’re going to broadcast some of the show live, then they’re going to make some kind of comments.
I bet the viewing figures will be high.
yaa*****:
Recently they’ve been in a slump, but this is really gonna give their ratings a boost…
uru*****:
Was so funny when they were saying Mary should be for the chop!
sun*****:
I hope that they tell the truth in their own words, not because they’ve been forced to say it.
gem*****:
Umm, I don’t think it’s SMAP who should be apologizing to the fans somehow…
(ﾟーﾟ(ﾟεﾟ,￢＿￢￣!￣●^～^):
I hope they tell us what really happened, but there’s going to pressure on them.
Still, if we get to see all five of them and hear what they have to say in a live broadcast…
yok*****:
Well if they’re staying with their agency then they won’t be able to say what really happened. Ultimately they’ll just apologize for the fuss and thank their agency. And that’ll be that. But I really want to hear what the members have to say though…
tos*****:
Best to put out the fire sooner rather than later.
But they should say it in their own words.
zeh*****:
Do your best, Nakai!
sei*****:
Man, everyone’s gonna be watching this!
Please don’t break up, SMAP.
foo*****:
I’m not too keen on the fact that they’re going to “apologize for the fuss”.
The person who made it all worse wasn’t them.
rek*****:
Umm, so why did a break up article still come out even though they all decided on January 6 that they were going to carry on together?
Did Johnny’s harass them?
tak*****:
I’m really happy that they’re carrying on together, but I want the members of the band to all carry on doing the same things they did before. And if anyone’s apologizing, it should be the agency and the manager, who started a fight that drew in the band and their fans.
mai*****:
No need for apologies, guys. Just do your best as SMAP. I’m rooting for you!
jarm:
They don’t have to apologize for thinking that they’d like to leave the agency. I reckon it would have been better if they’d done it, but if they’ve decided to stay then as long as they say ‘sorry for making you guys worry’ then it’s fine.
